Simple Goodbyes
by AquaroseNamine
Summary: Saying goodbye shouldn't be so hard... At least that's what he thought.


Saying goodbye shouldn't be so hard, Roxas thought. Especially when she wasn't even awake to hear him say it. So, as he pushed open the white-washed door of the third door from the left, right across from his and directly next to Axel's, he told himself it was no big deal. All he had to do was get in, say bye, and leave.

Turns out it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever was.

Roxas' black cloak stood out against the marvelous all white room, the only one of it's kind throughout the whole castle. His room was grey,  
as was everyone elses. Even though her room was plain, being only white, it was a million times more beautiful than his. Because she, being the artist that she was, had made it stand out.

Roxas strode past the endless rows of colorful paintings hung orderly on her walls that were the main contribution to her unique decoration. He'd seen those pictures almost every day, he'd known what was drawn carefully on every single page. There was the picture of Sora (It almost hurt to think about him, let alone look at the picture), the blurry sketch of the red haired girl who's name Roxas and Naminé could never remember, and then came the endless pictures of himself, Axel, and Xion. But the one Roxas always thought was his favorite was the one she'd drawn so long ago of himself. She always told him that she drew it before they had even met, and once, ever so quietly, Roxas had heard her say it was her favorite too.

Another way Naminé had ensured her room would look less plain was her innate ability to always make sure the dark, starless blackness that lurked encroachingly behind each and everyone's windows was never visible. From somewhere, (everone assumed Marluxia had given them to her, though how he ever acquired them always troubled peoples minds) Naminé had gotten silky, wine colored curtains. These she hung over her first window, always closed, blocking the darkness. The others she hung in her sitting space, and over her second window. Typically all everyone recieved was a one-roomed, simple living space, ideal only for sleeping. But Naminé's room was special: it was magic. 'Magic,' being used for lack of a better word to describe the strange feeling  
you'd experience if you crossed the arch in the center of her room. Half of Naminé's room was located on another world, and served as the main mode of transportation between the Castle that Never Was, and the mansion; a ghostly, abandoned house that guarded the south-east border of Twilight Town. Nobody in the Organization ever knew how the "Anomaly Room" had come to be, but somehow it was agreed to be given to Naminé.

Naminé had always taken shelter in her second room more than her first. It was where she slept, drew, and talked with Roxas. A favorite place of hers to be was her small sitting space that was placed at the edge of her second room and overlooked the whole of twilight town. Behind the ornate white arches was a ceiling-length window, always separated from the outside air only by her curtains. Roxas occasionaly found her sitting there on her slouchy white chair, her white dress blending into the rest of her surroundings. She would usually draw, or move just enough so Roxas could sit there and they could talk together.

Today Roxas had found her asleep there. Odd, he thought as he crossed the two rooms and felt the familiar rush of crossing the barrier and saw her sleeping silhouette. She never slept there, normally. Especially this time of day, when she was usually expecting him to stop by. He walked over to where she was curled gracefully in her chair, dress draped over her knees. She had drifted off drawing, he supposed. Clutched in her hand was her light blue pencil, and her other hand covered her white drawing pad that was face down in her lap.

Roxas wondered what she was drawing. Carefully so as not to disturb her, he picked up her small, gentle hand and held it against his own. It was soft compared to his darker, rougher skin. He laced his fingers through hers and held it tightly. A pang of sadness and longing bit him inside. He put her hand down and picked up her sketch book. Flipping through the pages he noticed the one she had been drawing. It was of him, but he was dressed differently. He had on a checkered vest of some kind, grey jeans and different shoes. He almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the invented outfit, it not looking anywhere close to the plain black coat and shoes he always wore. Roxas saw that almost every page of Naminé's book was filled with pictures of himself. Immeadietly he felt guilty for looking at her personal drawings, and closed the book and carefully slipped it under her palm. Then he backed out from under her sitting spot and sat on her white blanketed bed, running his hand through his gold hair.

Then Roxas noticed something he wished he hadn't.

Nestled underneath the white comforts of her room, Naminé slept peacefully. The breeze from the open window caressed her pale skin, and blew her blonde hair slowly around her face. The wine-colored curtains blew around her and the mid-afternoon sun bathed that spot in a warm glow. And she looked beautiful. More beautiful than he had ever realized before.

She wasn't making this easy, he thought.

He grunted in anger and produced his keyblade. Leaping up from Naminé's bed, he whipped it around in frustration. It made him feel better. For a breif moment he considered taking a flying leap from the window to wander the back streets of Twilight Town, a favorite endevour of his. But he quickly reconsidered. With a sigh, he put away his weapon and sat back down on the bed. A lone piece of paper fluttered by his feet, travelling by way of the wind. He picked it up and looked at it. Blank.

He thought for a moment. Then he got up and pulled a chair closer to Naminé. He borrowed the pencil she was holding and began to sketch her. He didn't know what he had been hoping to accomplish with this little burst of artistic inspiration, but he thought it was a better way to take control of his feelings than accidentaly destroying Naminé's room with his keyblade. A couple of times he got frustrated, erased everything, and started over. He never could understand how Naminé acquired enough patience to be able to draw like she did, and was in constant amzement of her talent. She had even tried to teach him once, but that had ended less than sufficient...

"How did you do that?" he asked her once as she brushed a perfect watercolor streak of blue for her picture of an ocean.

She added a few strokes of green to the still water. "Unlike you, Roxas, I happen to posses the skill of patience."

He reclined farther back in his white chair. He had put it in Naminé's sitting spot to watch her draw and to talk after that days missions. "Maybe I should go and work on that."

Naminé looked up slowly, her ocean blue eyes locking with his. "Please do not leave." she said worriedly.

He laughed. "Im not going anywhere, Naminé."

And from then on he would never forget the way she smiled after he said that.

Dutifully he sketched a few more lines to his picture. When he had finished he held it level to his eyes and compared it to Naminé. From that point he had to admit to himself that perhaps he should have left the whole artist thing to Naminé. He also noticed he had sketched the silver haired boy in the background by accident, surrounded by neon lights from where he had to go next. Damn, he thought. He tried to erase as much as he could but it turned out looking like a smudged  
mess. He crinkled the paper in his hand and threw it to Naminé's trash can, where it landed at the bottom with a thud. With a sigh he layed back in the chair and closed his eyes in thought. This can't be too hard, he thought. He sat up and looked at Naminé.

"Bye." he waved. He leapt up to leave but soon plopped back down in the chair heavily.

He played with the zipper of his coat and whispered, "Farewell," dramatically. Naminé moved slightly in her sleep.

He watched her and was in awe of how beautiful she looked. Then he leaned forward and took her small face in his hand. Carefully he kissed her on the cheek. "Goodbye, Naminé." he whispered quietly in her ear.

Something deep inside him was telling him not to go, but he knew he had to. At his own request, the boy who had convinced him had given him just enough time to say goodbye. That familiar boy with the striking silver hair had been the only reason Roxas had decided there even needed to be a goodbye. But now, he was barely sure if he could even do it. Sure, he could make due without some of the Organization. Larxene, possibly. Vexen. Saïx. Luxord, and others. But saying goodbye  
to Xion had been bad enough. With the help of Axel was the only way Roxas could cope with the way Xion had to leave. Axel... he didn't have time to explain. He didn't even have enough time to see him for the last time. But Naminé was too much to have to leave, and it was pushing Roxas over the edge.

"Roxas..." Naminé whispered in her sleep. Roxas smiled sadly and dropped his hand from her cheek. Roxas looked at her one last time before getting up and turning around, wiping a tear from his eye quickly, in case someone - anyone - might see.

Roxas crossed the arch into Naminé's second room and flew the door open to the hall. From where he was standing he snapped his wrist and opened a dark corridor. It took every ounce of himself not to turn back, but something inside him was willing him to keep going. He wasn't sure of a whole lot anymore. He felt stupid for dragging that on; he was late to meet the boy. He had told himself it was going to be easy and it wasn't. But he was sure of one thing...

Simple goodbyes just didn't exist.

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Update!

SO I fixed the format, if that was bugging anyone, and I can totally see how it would. I write them on my iPhone, so when I send them to my email and open them on my computer, they are stuck like that. Which sucks, because that means I have to, like, change them. ugh.

Anyway this is part one of a three-parter. It's all completed, I have just yet to upload the other two parts because I'm still fixing some quirks. Anyway I wanted this to just be one part by itself because I thought it was really powerful that way as a whole. But there will be more :)

Hope everyone enjoys it! :)

I know my punctuation is not... well, good, but try to be kind. I am learning :)

* * *

P.S. I own nothing.

If I did, Roxas would be with Namine. End of discussion.


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